American Sniper: White Fundamentalism At Its Most Savage

“I considered the people I was killing to be savages because of the violence they committed against American troops, the beheadings, the rapes of innocent villagers. They lived by putting fear into other people’s hearts and civilized people don’t act that way. I wasn’t so much committed to killing them as I was committed to making sure that every service member over there, whether American or allied, came home – I was killing them to protect my fellow Americans. You have to get into the mentality and you can not think of them as human beings.” (Chris Kyle in an interview with Fox News)

Film director Clint Eastwood’s new film, American Sniper, is based on the life of Chris Kyle, whose comments you can read above. Kyle’s comments on Fox News reveals a similar mindset to white supremacists past and present who feel that they are ridding of the world of ‘savages’ in non-European lands, it is in fact what can be described as white fundamentalism at its most savage.

Kyle boasted in his best-selling book, American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in American History, that he killed approximately 250 people and did not regret one killing.

So assured is Kyle in his convictions that the number of people he killed does not stir his conscience. In fact he said, “The number is not important to me. I only wish I had killed more. Not for bragging rights, but because I believe the world is a better place without savages out there taking American lives.” (Read Natural born killers: the real American Snipers: By Colin Freeman: Daily Telegraph: 14, January 2015)

He then goes on to say, “When God confronts me with my sins, I do not believe any of the kills I had during the war will be among them.”

It will probably surprise some readers to discover that Kyle was the son of a Sunday school teacher and a deacon in Texas, and was brought his first gun at aged eight.

In America, religion, militarism and Jesus goes hand-in-hand with guns and in contrary to everything Jesus taught. Yet the American government recruits simple-minded folk like Kyle, who do not question authority and certainly do not read the bible with any kind of understanding.

It is no wonder that Kyle is seen as an American hero if heroism means the inability to think for yourself and question your actions. The ideology of racism is simple, you have one race who are superior to other races who must be civilised. Kyle’s comments to Fox News confirmed this when he referred to the Iraqis he killed as savages.

When U.S. soldiers themselves confessed inside the Unitarian Church, in Portland Oregon, in March 2008 to committing war crimes such as rape, the murder of innocent civilians as ordered by their superiors, would Kyle have been proud of these depraved acts?

The truth is, Kyle is an American hero because he did whatever Uncle Sam ordered him to do.

Clint Eastwood’s film is an insult to the soldiers who have bravely come forward and admitted to committing war crimes.

“Evan Knappenberger was with the Army 4th Infantry Division working as an intelligence analyst, and served one year in Iraq. He said, “We are responsible as soldiers, we are murderers of over one million Iraqis. I participated in burglary, trespassing, knowledgeable negligence, criminal assault and battery, rape by association, and gangsterism, I am standing here today as a criminal — in a sense of the word that only someone who has worn the uniform can understand.”

David Mann was an Army Specialist in Nasiriyah, Iraq in 2003, and returned to Balad, Iraq in 2005, and what he had to say was disturbing. He said, “We were told not to stop when children ran in front of our vehicles as we invaded Iraq”

Mann was forced to return to Iraq despite threatening to kill himself if he was forced to return, but his pleas fell on death ears. He said, “…every man, woman and child who has died in this war has died in vain, because it was a war based on lies and profits.”

Twenty-three year-old former marine and Iraq war veteran, Benjamin David Lewis spoke about how he witnessed war crimes in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, in 2004.

Speaking to IPS, he said, “My battalion in spring 2004 was operating in direct contravention of the Geneva Conventions (GC). During the spring siege we sent military-age males back into the city, and were ordered to kill them.”

Lewis added, “The intention of the military was to take over and occupy the main hospital in Fallujah, which violates the GC’s, as well as our being ordered to target all ‘military age males‘.”

Soldiers who have refused to fight on moral grounds. These are the real heroes, because it takes guts and character to turn your back on orders and think for yourself. It takes guts to stand up to the constant mass media, mind-numbing propaganda and sift through the lies.

Clint Eastwood could have easily directed a provocative film about any one of these soldiers mentioned in this article, but he chose the easy path to fame.